HELP! This cover book is not mine!!!

How many times some authors thought about this: “Help! This cover book is not mine!!!” and were rather desperate to have an ugly cover attached with their story or models that were totally not the characters?

How many wrote a bald hero and the cover the model had dark hair? Or the heroine had long hair and the cover had short one and not the right color? Or the characters had bit muscles and the cover showed thin androgynous teens? Or the characters were in their 40ish and the models on the covers showed some 20ish?

Or again really ugly non attractive design, ugly colors, same positions, same models…

I mean the list is endless about how wrong can be a cover book.

With the era of ebooks, I just cannot believe that cover artists are not blowing all over the place and offering non only quality but fair price due to the variety. I understand that for a while, this job was not popular and therefore prices were over the top and choices were limited but after a couple of years this new industry is all over the place.

I believe that the problem belongs to publisher who just not care enough or if they care, the readers pay the price. Right now there is hardly a fair middle.

It also happened that I bought an ebook and the file I got did not even have the cover!!!! Beware with All Romance Ebook, this happened not only one or two times there but many times!

I am not this kind of reader who buy a book by its cover. But of course I would lie if I say that I do not enjoy a nice cover with the story I am reading!

I sure do not understand some erotic publishers in the choice of their covers. I would say the big majority seems to do not care much to fit the cover with the story. And talking with a lot of authors, it seems that they have no say in the choice and they are not even consulted to provide at least some clues to the cover artists.

What a shame!

I am not sure why the publishers continue to provide such non sense. And it happens all the time no matter if the publisher is small or well- known . So it is not only a matter of being cheap here. It is a matter of they do not care as long as the number of people are right. Most of the time it is a poor collage that we see again and again.

There are exceptions of course but rare. Here is a list of what I think with a couple of publishers:

Great:

Loose-Id: so far I think they are the best. They are unique, the colors beautiful and they are reflecting the story pretty much all the time.

Liquid Silver Books: I like very much the variety. They are very erotic which is what I expect to see with my erotic story. I am rarely disappointed.

Decadent publishing: very pretty but my issue is that when I buy a book from them, half of the price is to pay the cover since the number of words is way under the normal price for the equivalent versus the other publishers. One of the most beautiful website of erotic publishers as well but here also, I have this nagging feeling that I pay more for the website and cover versus the content.

Resplendence Publishing: exact same comment as Decadent publishing above: pretty but methinks that I pay half the price of the book for the cover and the website. I would much prefer more words rather pretty colors on my cover.

Intermediate:

Ellora’s cave: 50/50. My main issue with them is that they do recycle some covers. It is not rare to find the same cover attached with another story with the same models, same position with only a couple of items or clothes different. It looks cheap.

Samhain: 50/50. Sometimes they are beautiful and reflect the story and sometimes it is not at all the characters described. It seems that they think as long as the number is correct, then it is good. The models are generally way too young versus the story which is a disappointment.

Ravenous: Pretty colorful and generally very attractive not always original though.

Silver Publishing: not very original, same position most of the time, but they do pick different models and they are all beautiful and not too young which is a plus.

Average:

Siren Publishing: totally boring. But they decided it is their image. It is the same positions. But at least the models are different and the color of hair fit the characters. It remains that their covers remind me harlequin’s covers a lot. Not really erotic alike.

Extasy Books: really average. Some covers are nice but I am really not fond of the fantasy/portray/robot/dolls characters.

Cobblestone Press: very average but they care about the physical details of the characters which give them brownies

Evernight Publishing: not the prettiest but not the ugliest either. They do respect the physical details and try to add details but the colors are pretty blah.

Total E-Bound: not always constant. Some covers are beautiful and some very blah.

Poor:

New Concept Publishing: oh dear. oh dear. oh dear. Everything is wrong. The title and the author’s name are completely unreadable. The design since it is not models goes from great to poor quality. If only they could change the font and the colors.

Changeling Press: yuck. I think either you like this kind of design or you hate it. I hate it.

.

Of course, this is only a few of the erotic publishers.

So overall I am upset because I feel like cheated in a way. I bought a story with its cover. It is part of the price I paid. If the cover shows characters that are completely different, my mind will make a fixation on this and not the quality of the story. It is like drinking a nice cocoa hot drink but the last drop is bitter. You will almost forget how sweet was the taste.

So what do you think? Am I right or not? Please share your opinion! I would love to know it!

Like this:

I agree. It’s hard to justify buying a book when the characters on the cover look like avatars from a video game designed in the early 1990s. It’s as if the publisher doesn’t want to sell any books they are that bad.

I’m not going to click on a book if I don’t know the author and the cover is bad (the graphic designer in me cringes at most of the covers) whereas a well-designed cover from an author I haven’t read will pull me into clicking to find out more about the story.

I agree with you about Loose ID’s covers, but I actually like Siren’s covers. Especially the ones for Heather Rainier, Sophie Oak, Cara Covington and Elle St. James. They look like real people and the illustrators are very talented.

Thanks for your comment Mel 🙂
I wrote this a while back and I agree that Siren improved a lot! In fact all the publishers I listed average improved.
I will add that for self author publishers, choices are very limited unfortunately and one of the main reason we hardly see menage picture but often a topless male which attract women.
To have real models posing a menage is expensive but big publishers can afford it.
I dislike the video game faceless expression. I try to concentrate on blurbs but it is hard.
But I saw improvement in general which is great.. and I agree some illustrators are indeed very talented! 😉

About Mary’s Menages Reviews

I am an Erotic Ménage Romance Reviewer middle-aged french canadian, curious of everything with a very open mind. Homophobia and censorship are NOT part of my vocabulary! So it was no surprise that when I discovered ménage stories in 2005, I decided then and there that I would read only this genre after that. I am proud of my collection and to promote this genre. My reviews are based on reading so many of them. I am passionate and can be sarcastic if something bothers me but I am always honest, never mean! Welcome to my ménage world! ~ Mary~

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